Sergei Zaryanko depicts the apartments of Empress Marie Feodorovna in the Winter Palace. They were decorated by Auguste de Montferrand in the late 1820s. Their rich decorations were destroyed in a tremendous fire in the palace in 1837. Therefore, Sergei Zaryanko’s work is of enormous iconographical interest today. In the foreground is what is known as the Diamond Room, where the empress’s jewels were kept. In the interior, the artist placed two veteran soldiers in uniform, with extended service chevrons on their left sleeves and military medals on their chests.

Zaryanko Sergei

Zaryanko, Sergei Konstantinovich
1818, Lyadovo, Mogilev Province — 1870, Moscow
Painter, portraitist, interior artist. Son of an emancipated serf. Studied under Alexei Venetsianov and simultaneously attended the Imperial Academy of Arts. Non-class artist (1836), major silver medal (1841), academician (1843), professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1850). Lived in St Petersburg (mid-1820s–1843; 1846–1855) and Moscow (1843–1846; 1856–1870). Taught drawing at various educational establishments. Professor of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1856–1870).